Refrigerator door



' Ams 28, 93. G, C, BOHN 93,634

REFRIGERATOR DOOR Filed April 14, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet l IN V EN TOR.

A :i (dim ATTORNEYS.

pri 28, E935. G Q BOHN 2,038,634

REFRIGERATOR DOOR Filed April 14, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. @elififoizm BY i M ATTORNEYS.

Per@ 1- 28,1936. g 2,038,634

AUNITED STATI-:s PATENT oFFlCE 2,038,634 REFRIGERATOR DOOR Gebhard C. Bohn, St. Paul, Minn., assgnoi" to The Bohn Company, St. Pail, Minn., a. 'corporation of Minnesota Application April 14, 192s, serial No. 270,014 4 claims. (o1. 20u-35) My invention relates to improvements in doors, when the door covering and backing `are locked particularly designed for refrigerators, wherein together, and make contact with the exterior body the door body has an exterior metal covering. of the refrigerator. That portion of the backing Among the 4objects of my invention is to provide strips 4 to which 'the gasket 8 is secured, is ina door construction, wherein the door backing wardly beveled to make up for the thickness of 5 may be interlocked with ametal exterior covering, the gasket in permitting the dOOr backing t0 ft preferably exteriorly coated as with enamel, lactightly between the inturned edges of the door quer, duco, etc., without exposed screws, or other covering. A seCOnd gasket l0 is Secured t the fastening means, extending through the covering, door backing between the gasket 9 `end the inner other than the fastening means of the regular face of the door, as by being secured vbetween 10 hardware; to provide a door backing unit which moldings II and I2, forming a part of the door will permit being easily separated from the metal beeking, the bead I3 0f the gasket 9 lirl'eetiiflgcovering, without injury to either the covering or beyond the moldings t0 Ineke ent'awet with the the backing; to provide a door backing unit which inner jernb Of the dOOr Opening- The melding will be adjustable in its locking connection with l2, as shown, also extends over' and Covers the 15 the door covering to make up for inaccuracies in edge 0f the inner plete 6 Of the deer bekig'. either the backing element o-r metal covering; SeCilred ilO the inner aCe Of thewdO'O belkig, and to provide a door backing which may be at one side thereof, as by screws I4, are the olitput together as a built-up unit before being in- WardlY projecting metal ngers l5, the 'netal terlocked with the door covering and thus secure fingers heVing inwardly turned free ends ,i5 20 the maximum of strength, rigidity, etc. adapted to fit into the adjacent channel of the In the accompanying drawings forming part door covering, as shown particularly in Figure-2. of this specication: The side of the door backing opposite to the lock- Figure l is an exterior plan view of a door coning fingers l5 is Seeured in position. as' by yserel'lv's structed in accordance with my invention, with I7, passing thrOllgh the metal dOOI' COVeI'ing end 25 the door covering shown partly broken away to into the door backing. The screws I1 are covered better show part of the locking connection beby the dOOr hinges I8, Which hinges are seeired' tween the door backing and covering. upon the exterior of the door in the ordinary Figure 2 is a Section on line 2 2 0f Figure 1; manner, as by means of screws I9'. Resilient and gaskets 2i) interposed between the edges and the 30 Figure 3 is a perspective view of the door, shoW- dOO' COVering Keep the metal hinges Ont 0f ining the backing and door covering in the initial .1U-ring eOnteet With the door Covering. step of being interlocked. "Ihe door backing and the metal outer cov- Referring to the drawings, A represents a door erng 0r sheathing are placed' together, as 111115-v body or backing, and 2 a metal plate forming an trated in Figure 3, by rst hooking the locking 35 exterior covering or sheathing for the door, this ngers inte the Channel in One side of the door plate being usually coated with enamel, porcecovering, then swinging the deer' backing into lain, or other material which would be subject to position against the door covering and securing injury, as chipping. The edge 3 of the plate 2 is the free edge ofthe door by the screws I1 ininturned to form a channel` to receive locking serted through the door covering and into the 40 means carried by the door body, as hereinafter body of the door backing. set forth, By the features of construction shown and de- The door body or backing, as shown, is built up scribed, I secure many important advantages. of strips 4 connected to make a framework that The problem of securing a thoroughly satisfacwill nt within the space upon the back of the tory closure in a refrigerator, wherein the redoor formed by the inturned door edges 3, and to frigerator body and door is to be covered by form a space or chamber between the strips to enameled metal sheets, is one that I, as a Inanreceive insulation 5. The inner face of the door ufacturer of refrigerators, have been, through backing is covered, as by an enameled metal plate years of experimentation, working out a proper 6, having inturned edges fitted into grooves 1 solution of. 50 in the door backing. In order to provide for a It is desirable, for instance, that no exposed resilient contact with the refrigerator body, refastenings, as screws or nails, shall pass through silient gaskets 8 are secured around the edge the enameled covering plate of the door, other of the strips 4, so that the head 9 of the gasket than the fastenings of the standard hardware. will stand outside the edge of the door covering It is desirable, further, to secure a door backing that can be very easily and without injury to either the backing or the covering separated from the covering by the user, so that the user, in case the enamel covering becomes chipped or injured, may simply order another enamel covering that can be quickly fitted to the backing in substitution for the damaged one, or, may be in the same position with reference to the door body or backing.

It is desirable that the backing be of particularly solid character, and not to have joints that will separate or otherwise be damaged or become loosened or separated from the metal sheathing in the very severe shocks to the door, resulting from the slamming of the door.

It is desirable that the backing and sheathing be so constructed and co-operatively fitted together, vthat inaccuracies in the construction of either the door body or covering may be compensated for.

It is desirable that a very tight construction be secured to be in the greatest possible degree moisture proof.

It is desirable that the contact elements between the door and body of the refrigerator be so supported, not only as to prevent injury to the enameled surfaces of the refrigerator body, but, where resilient gaskets, as herein shown, are employed, those gaskets should be protected to the maximum degree, and also be capable of being Very easily removed Where damaged and new ones substituted.

By having the door backing made up as a unit member before being placed in connection with the door covering, I am enabled to secure a very solid and permanent construction of backing. It enables me to nrmly glue or dovetail the wooden members of the backing together, avoiding joints into which moisture might otherwise pass, and giving the maximum of strength and rigidity to the construction.

-In building doors of this type, it is diiiicult to get the covering plates with their turned edges of an absolutely uniform character and the same with reference t the door backing itself, but, in the above described construction it will be apparent that any inaccuracies in the construction of the door backing, or in the sheathing plate, are compensated for by the adjustability of the locking fingers within the channel of the sheathing plate. Furthermore, by having the edges of the door backing which support the gaskets 8, inwardly beveled, and the compressible gaskets secured to the beveled edge, the thickness of the gasket inside the bead is compensated for and a grip is secured upon the compressible gasket between the inturned edge of the door covering plate and the backing.

In using the word enameled in the claims in this case, I am using it in the general sense of covering a coating upon the sheathing plate subject to injury as by chipping by contacting metal parts. Such coating may be of a baked, vitreous material, enamel, lacquer, duoo, etc., that needs to be protected against the injury of contacting metal.

I claim:

1. A door construction of the class described, including an exterior enameled sheathing plate formed with an inturned edge constituting a channel, a wooden backing unit constructed on one side to t into the adjacent channel, a separable connection between the opposite side of said unit and the sheathing plate, and a compressible gasket secured around the base of said door unit to be gripped between said unit and the inturned edge of the door sheathing, said gasket projecting beyond said inturned edge.

2. A door construction of the class described, including an enameled sheathing plate formed withan inturned edge, a backing member chambered to receive insulation, one side ing member interlocking with the groove formed by the adjacent inwardly turned edge of the sheathing plate, means detachably connecting the other side of the backing member and the sheathing, the base of the backing member to be gripped between the backing member and the inturned edge of the sheathing plate, and a second projecting gasket supported by the backing member intermediate of said rst mentioned gasket and the inner face of said backing member.

3. A door construction of the class described, including an exterior enameled sheathing plate formed with an inturned edge, constituting a channel, a wooden backing unit fitted within the n space intermediate the inturned edges of said plate, a member projecting from one side of said unit into the channel formed by the adjacent inturned edge of the plate, fastening means passing through the sheathing plate and into the opposite side of said backing member in co-operation with hinges secured to said sheathing plate and covering the fastening means passing through the sheathing plate into the backing, and a gasket separating said hinges from the enamel surface of said plate.

4. A door construction of the class described, including an exterior sheathing plate formed with an inturned edge, a backing unit constructcontact With the sheathing plate, the base of the freely swingable unit adjacent the ange of the extending through said hinges and into the freely yswingable side of the backing unit.

GEBHARD C. BOHN.

of said backa projecting gasket secured around 

